Generally speaking, laser assemblies may be used for laser-based surgical procedures to, for example, deliver laser energy to fragment or vaporize body tissue or foreign matter, such as kidney stones, other calculi, and/or fragments thereof. A conventional laser assembly may include an optical fiber coupled to a laser energy source. The laser assembly may be configured to transmit laser energy from the laser energy source to a target treatment area of a patient's body. Particularly, a beam of laser energy may be outputted through a distal end of the optical fiber. In some instances, the laser energy outputted from the optical fiber may be adjusted via the laser energy source. For example, a user may actuate various power controls on the laser energy source to increase or decrease the intensity of the outputted laser energy. Moreover, it may be desirable to adjust the laser beam size based on the size of the target treatment area. For instance, a smaller beam of laser energy may be appropriate to treat a smaller area of target tissue, and a larger beam of laser energy may be appropriate to treat a larger area of target tissue. Typically, the laser beam size may correspond to the diameter of the optical fiber. Therefore, when encountering variations in treatment area size, a user may manually switch between appropriately sized optical fibers.
Adjusting the intensity on the laser energy source and changing optical fibers, however, are time consuming and cumbersome. Accordingly, a need exists to simplify the manner in which the intensity and the size of the outputted laser energy are adjusted. The laser assemblies and related methods of the present disclosure are directed to improvements in the existing technology.